Approaching the West — Page 174
A pproaching the West—174 commit adultery’ is so serious in nature that the Torah makes adultery a crime punishable with death. ‘And the man that commits adultery with another man’s wife, even he that commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death. ’ (Lev. 20:10; Duet. 22:22) The death penalty is by stoning or burning with fire (Duet. 22:24; Lev. 20:14). In the same strain, the sins of engaging in bestiality and homosexuality also carry sentences of death (Exod. 22:19; Lev. 20:13). Christianity carried the concept of adultery to new levels. Divorcing a wife, except for adultery, and marrying another woman is committing adultery (Matt. 19:10). Similarly, to retain an adulterous wife, to marry a betrothed maiden, and to marry a Jew or an idolater are considered acts of adultery according to the New Testament writers. In Isl ā m, adultery and fornication are forbidden (25:69) and the punishment for committing these sins, after being convicted with full evidence, is a hundred stripes (24:3). Stoning to death or burning by fire is not prescribed in the Holy Qur’ ā n. Punishment for adultery for a married slave- girl is half than that of a free, married woman (4:26). Homosexuality is forbidden. And if two men among you are guilty of it, punish them both. And if they repent and amend, then leave them alone; surely All ā h is Oft-Returning with compassion and Merciful. (4:17)